Happy New Years!
by Annalynn Roe
Summary: New Years is started off with a bang! when several criminals do their thing, at the same time. The team splits up to cover Jump, and Raven runs into a certain thief, who may not have actually stolen anything in the first place! R&R ;D. Oneshot.


**If you decided to read this, but are wondering why exactly a New Year's fanfic is being updated at the beginning of November, I was looking into how to spell Azarathean (still haven't quite figured it out) and noticed a number of grammatical mistakes, and figured why not?**

The waves were calm, swaying gently back and forth across the sandy shore a few hundred yards from Raven's perch at the top of Titans Tower. There she sat motionless under the pale light of a full moon, surrounded by thousands of bright, glowing stars scattered across what would otherwise be a dark black sky. The rest of the team was already asleep, had been for several hours, due to the large number of villains who'd chosen today to make their move. Raven's own encounters earlier that day is what lead to her being atop the tower at the moment.

Beast Boy and Cyborg had gone into Downtown Jump to take care of Jumbo while Starfire and Robin taking off to Jump Mall to stop Jinx, Gizmo, and Wildebeest's hectic 'shopping spree'. Leaving Raven to watch out for any others who undoubtedly chosen to start of the new years with a bang! Although it was her unfortunate luck to find but a few minutes after the rest had left the red light flickering on and off along with the horrible alarm signaling yet another villain had begun to play. And it was none other than the remotely infamous Red X.

Not bothering to give a moment to grieve her misfortune Raven took off quickly, flying low in hopes of managing a 'surprise attack' even though it was highly doubtful. Red X was an odd villain if one took the time to stop and think about it, as Raven often spent her time thinking it was unsurprising she had seen the oddity. That it seemed half the time as if Red X had a sixth sense of some sort, aiding him in his excursions. Not to mention even without the almost unnatural ability there where his fighting skills, outclassing even Robin himself – much to Robin's extreme displeasure. Apart from Slade it could be assumed Red X was the best there was in Jump, even Gotham.

None of this was actually motivational to Raven, although such things hardly bothered her, being mere facts that must be noted if there ever would be any chance at catching this red phantom. As usual X had targeted a jewelry store – Pretty Little Things – and finally Raven had arrived, just in time to catch a glance of a fleeting figure clad wholly in black with minor traces of white or gray finished with numerous red x's placed on his chest, white skull mask, and if you happened to see it coming straight for you, the bottom of his shoes. He gave no heed to the dark female now giving chase though she was sure he had taken notice by now.

For a super villain supposedly without the aid of any special powers he was impressive in many ways – unhappy as Raven was to admit – he had no trouble keeping up a fast pace that on this street beat the speed of any cars. It wasn't his speed Raven had trouble with, being able to fly fixed any troubles that could be had in that department. No, it was his uncanny ability to just disappear in the blink of an eye, not necessarily by means of his belt, he could turn a corner and by the time she managed to maneuver through the maze of ally's he used he was blocks ahead, laughing.

Suddenly the alarm built into the communicator began blaring and quickly she whipped it out to see not one, not even two, but three dots illuminated, showing three criminals not even near each other had simultaneously began their start to the new year's. There was no denying it, all of this had been planned, a set up to separate the titans and hinder them practically unable to fight all of those appearing, it was surprisingly smart, not something Raven would expect from these otherwise, downright buffoons. Red X turned another corner and she sped forward in an attempt to catch up to the evasive X before he had yet another chance to disappear. Needless to say she by no means, when she rounded the corner into the ally, did she expect to see him standing no more than 17 yards away radiating attitude and cockiness.

Seeing she had no time or space to slow down she opted to instead tackle with the built up speed she'd acquired. Truthfully, she didn't actually expect it to work, but it must have caught him by surprise because there she was five seconds later sprawled atop Red X who'd had the wind knocked out of him. Still this didn't deprive him of his ever annoying attitude as he wheezed out,

"I knew even you Sunshine would fall for me someday." His cheeky voice, although distorted by the mask, was easily heard. "But sorry, it's against the book to date heroes." Raven looked as if unsure whether to roll her eyes or punch him, hopefully the later would wipe away that smug smirk she could practically see under the white mask that covered his face. She had no time to say a thing or make any move before in but a second her head cracked against asphalt and gasped as the rest of her body followed suit, knocking the air out of her. Glaring up through watering eyes, not that she would admit it, even if she wasn't crying, she looked at the masked man who now pinned her to the ground.

"Now now beautiful, you didn't really think I'd actually let you catch me, did you?" This followed by an eerie chuckle morphed by his voice modulator. In response Raven sneered in anger and refrained from replying. Instead focusing on her powers, and crying out her mantra sent time flying backwards into a brick wall only to land on a rather large heap of garbage. Giving a playful tisk he chastised,

"Now I'm sure it's against a hero's rule book to go throwing people into trash." Before she had a chance to shout her mantra and envelop him in her dark aura he released an X that met its mark, covering the hero now simmering with fury. Wasting no time he pressed the little button on this belt and disappeared with the wind. Seething, and uncaring as to the pain she was about to cause herself, Raven gripped the edges of the sticky red substance and tugged hard as she could. Without a sound it ever so painfully peeled away, taking quite a bit of skin with it, until finally it was off. Letting lose a swear she rubbed her sore, and possibly bleeding, mouth which only succeeded in causing the pain to grow, resulting in another muttered cuss.

The rest of the day went rather smoothly, smoothly meaning no more of Raven's opponents managed to give her to much trouble, taking 45 minutes at worst to take care of and send off to the quaint little prison they so often went to and fro. In total she managed to snag six criminals, beating even Robin's score, which was one less due to a nasty fight with Kyd Wykkyd who almost managed to come out on top.

The numerous fights today had practically drained Raven of her power, and it would take a while of meditation to speed up the process of recovery, seeing as how it was more than likely a few villains would take their turn tomorrow to celebrate the New Year, even if they were a day late. But fatigue was quickly setting in, making the calm state of mind steady and away from the wrong sense of peace that would inevitably lead her to sleep, and much as she wanted it she needed to finish the meditation or it would have the opposite effect intended.

Behind her a presence suddenly manifested itself, although it was hard to belief – though not as hard as others – she knew right away who it was, and began to question the costumed man's sanity. At the moment she had no choice but to choose to ignore him and continue with the meditation. She had specifically chosen this time to begin the meditation because it was a slightly different form than the type she normally practiced, which was used to focus her powers; in this case she was trying to replenish them. Stopping now would most likely hinder her powerless for at least the next three days. After another thirty minutes, which after she had allowed herself to once again inspect her surroundings, was surprised to find Red X had oddly not moved from his original position he'd appeared in.

"What are you doing here?" Basically, what Raven was asking, was what kind of criminal he was, getting away only to come back, furthering his chances of getting caught, at Titan's Tower no less, and not even doing anything when he more or less had found a titan in a defenseless position in which she could do nothing about at the time. Again he chuckled,

"What fun is it being a villain if there's no challenge, and I admit you are my favorite Titan." She could swear she practically felt him winking at her at this statement. Raven took a second to send a look questioning his sanity before he continued, "You know, birdbrain might know how to fight and all, but he's no fun, always angered at the slightest provocation. The rest are simple enough to take out. Now you, Raven, you can hold your own, even if you can't beat me." She also swore she could see his ego shining through the black layers of his suit. With a sigh, too tired to even bother trying to fight him, considering at a good time she had enough trouble, now she would have absolutely no chance, whatsoever.

What exactly do you want, cause you're right at the moment I don't have the ability to kick you over the side of this tower into the freezing water, and I'd really like to get to bed." Again that smirk as he began his reply,

"Is that an invitation?" Her scowl turning deeper, causing pins of pain from the damage of the X earlier, she walked passed him, seeing as she wouldn't have enough power to phase through anything until the next morning, she was stuck on foot. There was a crackling sound and he was gone a moment before reappearing just in front of her, causing her to halt.

"Now, now Bluebird, give me a chance to give you your new year's present." You've got to be kidding, was the first thing that ran through Raven's mind, but then it was easy enough to tell that although he was being annoying, and he was 100% serious. Before she had the chance to refuse or outright call him insane a small box was thrust into her hands. Just before he left he had the audacity to touch her face.

"Sorry about the X, maybe next time I'll try to be a little nicer." And with that he was gone, hopefully for good. Through the last part of the conversation she'd been too confused and shocked to move or say a thing; not every day a thief tries giving a heroine a gift. Eying the box for a moment she decided there really was no reason to not open it, so she did.

The first thing she saw was a note which she grabbed and underneath found a necklace, it was a sapphire raven set for flight, wings poised up which connected to a silver chain. The bird sat on a silver branch, made of diamonds, it was beautiful. Looking at the card she read the outside, which oddly he'd written everything on,

To: My Favorite Little Titan, it was addressed, she rolled her eyes at the words but continued on.

A little gift to start off a wonderful new year,

and no worries Sunshine.

I bought it, especially for you.

-X

Upon opening the card Raven finds a receipt, although the name, card, and any other information that would be useful in tracking down exactly who bought the item were torn away. Walking toward the door leading into the tower she let out a soft, hmm. Glancing again at the necklace she thought,

I might just keep this...__

_**First Red X & Raven fanfic of the New Year... last time I checked at least. (and a head start on this year ;P)**_


End file.
